Robert Baldwin (Earth-616)
; formerly ; , | Relatives = Maddie Naylor (mother); Justin Baldwin (father); | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = New Salem, Colorado; formerly New York City; Springdale, Connecticut | Gender = Male | Height = 5'10" | Height2 = (as Speedball), 6'0" (as Penance) | Weight = 170 lbs | Weight2 = (as Speedball), 197 lbs (as Penance) | Eyes = Blue | Hair = Blond | Hair2 = (as Speedball), bald as Penance | UnusualFeatures = Constantly gives off energy bubbles (as Speedball), horribly scarred from pierced wounds of armor (as Penance). | Citizenship = American | MaritalStatus = Single | Occupation = Government operative, student | Education = High school | Origin = Robbie was accidentally exposed to extra-dimensional energy during an experiment at a lab where he worked. | PlaceOfBirth = Springdale, Connecticut | Creators = Roger Stern; Steve Ditko | First = Amazing Spider-Man Annual #22 | Quotation = Hey. Remember. Everything. And yeah...it hurt. All at once like that, all the pain, all the guilt...everything in a rush. The thing about a rush...it fades. I've lived my worst fears and I survived. Maybe not in one piece, but I was starting to get it together. | Speaker = Robbie Baldwin as Penance | QuoteSource = Avengers: The Initiative Vol 1 30 | HistoryText = Speedball Robbie Baldwin was an angst-ridden Springdale Connecticut high school student who grew up under the often smothering guidance of his parents. His father wanted him to go into law while his free-spirited mother hoped he would go into arts. After school, he interned at Hammond Labs. Robbie snuck in to watch an experiment that tapped an extra-dimensional energy source, and was accidentally irradiated by it when the energy went out of control. The energy gave him superpowers: Whenever Robbie was hit with an impact above a certain strength, he'd become surrounded by a protective kinetic energy field that manifested in the form of a more muscular body, a spandex costume, and floating 'bubbles' in the air around him. When he was in "Speedball mode," any impact against him caused him to bounce instead of being harmed. He could also harness this energy and direct it more forcefully, or alternately use it as a bubble/shield to protect others, catch others, and even stop moving objects, like bullets, in mid-air. New Warriors After a brief career as a local hero against a series of ill-conceived villains, Speedball accidentally found himself at the site of the formation of a new young adult super team, the New Warriors, where he really started to come into his own. Night Thrasher had actually not intended for him to join the team, but his arrival and assistance in the battle against Terrax convinced Thrash to let him join. Over the years, Speedy became close friends with all his teammates, although his best relationships were with Rage, "Bucket-Head" Nova, Darkhawk, and Timeslip, his (sort-of) girlfriend. Speedball and his teammate Nova also helped Darkhawk and Spider-Man fight a group of teens who gained super powers when they picked up energy crystals which Darkhawk had been using to heal his body. He was working with the police to take out drug dealers, but because of his uncontrollable powers, he screwed up. Jessica Jones assumed that Speedy was a "washed up second string hero," on the side of the baddies. Speedball was once tortured by the Sphinx and drained of some of his power. The Sphinx in a later time banished Speedball to the kinetic dimension where Robbie derives his powers. During this time Robbie was briefly replaced by a clone created by Darrion Grobe in the future in a bid to stop Darrion's father Advent from destroying the timeline. During his time in the New Warriors his closest friendship was with Rage. Rage felt betrayed when the person he thought was Robbie sided with Nova about kicking Rage and Night Thrasher off the New Warriors. When the real Robbie returned he confessed to Rage that he may have made the same call. During the early years of the New Warriors Speedball's parents fought constantly and eventually got a divorce. Speedball's mother Madelyn Naylor was an actress who used to star on the soap opera Secret Hospital with Mary Jane Watson. Madelyn was once tricked into joining into the violent environmental group Project Earth but was rescued by Speedball and the New Warriors. Speedball's father who is the district attorney of Springdale, Connecticut was kidnapped by the street gang the Poison Memories after they learned of the identities of the New Warriors and began targeting their families. While in the New Warriors, Hindsight Lad realized that Speedball's access to the kinetic dimension made Speedball the embodiment of time and motion. Civil War The New Warriors attempted to apprehend a group of supervillains in Stamford, Connecticut for their television reality show. Nitro, one of the criminals, created an explosive blast that killed 612 civilians, including 60 children, as well as the New Warriors with the exception of Baldwin. This event triggered the push for superhero registration at the heart of the superhuman Civil War. Baldwin was presumed dead after the incident, but he was found alive after the blast launched him over 500 miles. Baldwin's kinetic field kept him alive, but it "burned out" as a result. After awakening from a coma, Baldwin was arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D. and placed in federal prison. After he discovered his powers were still functional, Baldwin was taken to the new penitentiary called Negative Zone Prison Alpha. Reed Richards, the facility's creator, offered Baldwin the chance to testify before the U.S. Congress. On the Capitol steps, Baldwin was shot by an assailant and taken away in an ambulance. Baldwin recovered from the wound, and Richards determined that Baldwin's powers were evolving. Baldwin thwarted an escape from the prison and said that he would comply with the Superhuman Registration Act. Baldwin ordered a new suit of armor that featured 612 internal spikes that caused him constant pain, symbolic of the 612 deaths he felt responsible for. Sixty of these spikes actually broke his skin, these sixty spikes are symbolic of the sixty children that died in Nitro's explosion. He joined the newest incarnation of the Thunderbolts. Squirrel Girl Squirrel Girl was a huge fan of Speedball, on whom she had a crush. She learned of Speedball's transformation into the darker hero code-named Penance after Deadpool provided her with a copy of . Squirrel Girl traveled to Thunderbolts Mountain to convince Robbie to lighten up and stop being Penance. Frustrated by his current attitude and unwavering determination to remain as Penance, Squirrel Girl traveled to Latveria to use one of Doctor Doom's Time Machine to travel to the past and prevent Speedball from ever becoming Penance. The machine instead transported her into the future, where she encountered an alternate version of Speedball (whom she unsuccessfully tried to get to travel back to the past with her), and Mr. Immortal, who told her she has an important task to perform in the past — namely, kicking Deadpool out of the Great Lakes Initiative's headquarters. Hunting the New Warriors While hunting down unregistered superhumans during Civil War, Penance was sent to capture his friend and former New Warriors teammate, Nova, who was visiting earth after the Annihilation War. Though Penance's actions were what ultimately caught Nova off guard, Nova still managed to resist capture until Iron Man intervened and forced the Thunderbolts to leave. Later that night Penance appeared before Nova, revealing his true identity to Richard. Richard, who had grown disenchanted with both sides of the Civil War, was absolutely horrified to discover what happened to Robert and decided to leave Earth until the madness was over. Thunderbolts After the Civil War, Speedball had a status of free citizen, so he often went to a coffee shop to write repeating numbers on his notebook. Later, when he joined the Thunderbolts, he was under surveillance by government agents 24/7. The action was diagnosed by Dr. David Ableton when he found out Baldwin had post-traumatic stress effects and by Norman Osborn as guilt ridden as they were multiples of 612, the number of the causalities in the Stamford explosion. Dark Reign Being brainwashed and heavily drugged he was persuaded by Osborn to join his new Initiative, at Camp H.A.M.M.E.R., and has psychotherapy sessions with Trauma, the camp therapist, who had been ordered by Osborn to keep Penance in his mentally fragile state. When the Avengers Resistance, consisting of many of Penance's New Warriors teammates, come to Camp H.A.M.M.E.R. seeking to release a captured teammate, Taskmaster orders Penance to attack them. His brainwashing prevents him from remembering his friends, and his costume prevents them from recognizing him, leading to an all-out battle. Their fight is interrupted by Nightmare, who had taken over the body of his son, Trauma. Nightmare forces Penance to remember the Stamford incident, causing him to pass out in mental anguish. Tigra revives him, using her powers of empathy to help him see Trauma's predicament. With this knowledge, and having already experienced his worst nightmare, Penance is able to talk Trauma into freeing himself from his father's control. Penance then helps the Avengers Resistance escape Osborn's forces by rupturing a gas main. He refuses Vance's offer to join their team, not wanting his old friends to see how much he had changed. Siege Robert turns against Camp H.A.M.M.E.R. and helps the "Avengers Resistance" fight the Hood and those that are with him. During the battle, he finally revealed his identity to his other ex-New Warriors teammates. Heroic Age Later on, Robbie had reclaimed the guise of Speedball and was helping out at the Avengers Academy. Fellow instructors remained unsure if Speedball should be teaching the children, but Justice still vouched for him none the less. His attitude was still that of Penance, not Robby Baldwin of the New Warriors, however, he was making a genuine attempt to change. Speedball decided to take the Avengers Academy students on a field trip to Stamford to show them the memorial of the people who died during the Stamford incident, to show them what happens when you make an ill-advised mistake against a supervillain. But news broke out about this, and they were attacked by a group of men called "the Cobalt Men", who had named themselves after one of the villains involved in the Stamford incident. Not wanting them to ruin the memorial of the dead, Speedball quickly defeated them himself. Speedball later admitted he cut himself to store up the energy he used as Penance, saying that power was more useful in a fight. He acknowledged that he should not have kept this a secret, and Hank Pym offered to help him find a better way to activate those powers. After that realization, Robert seemed to have really improved himself on an emotional level. Although he was still very depressed and still felt terrible for what happened in Stamford, he seemed to have cheered up a little and regained his sense of humor. After returning to the Academy, Speedball announces to the students and teachers that he was quitting the faculty (but still offers to help them anytime) and soon left, Justice tagging behind him. "New" New Warriors During a roadtrip with Justice, Speedball impulsively decides to reform the New Warriors. He and Justice drive to Carefree, Arizona in order to pursue and recruit the new Nova, Sam Alexander. At first he declines but after a visit with The Watcher Sam accepts and joins the team. Avengers Academy After the fall of Norman Osborn, Henry Pym founded the Avengers Academy and had Speedball join as a teacher, along with Justice, Tigra and Quicksilver. He held the first class in the school but had to cut short after Hazmat tried to use her powers and unleashed radiation on her classmates. | Powers = Hyperkinetic Shockwave: After the assassination attempt by Mr. Stricker, Robbie's powers changed and are now fueled by pain. His armor channels the power into energy conduits via the interior lining's spikes. This shockwave can travel considerable distances, and destroy most objects in it's path and area of effect, finally hitting the target with a force to harm and kill a normal human with ease. it appears that the longer the shockwave has to fly to the target, the more power it leaves along the way. He can also use this power to focus the kinetic energy in certain body parts, like his hands, for super strong attacks. Kinetic Energy Field: Robbie Baldwin's exposure to energy from a dimension of kinetic energy gave him the superhuman ability to create a kinetic field of unknown energy around himself which absorbed all kinetic energy directed against him (what he originally called the "Speedball Effect.") This absorption could vary from resisting the effects of physical objects such as bricks and rocks to resisting that of energy and fire and even explosions. Within his kinetic field it was nearly impossible for him to be hurt, and he instead bounced harmlessly from object to object, with no loss or transference of momentum. Hindsight deduced that because Speedball taps into a dimension of kinetic energy that Speedball must be an embodiment of time and motion. Gamesmaster a being who is able to read the minds of almost every being on the planet is unable to read Robbie's mind when he is in Speedball form. When the Sphinx experimented on him it was shown that Robbie's Speedball body only appears human and can be stretched into a variety of shapes. Speedball also showed control over his own molecules when he reshaped his body to give himself another costume after everyone else on the team got new costumes. These powers appeared to have "burned out" when saving Robbie from Nitro's explosion, however, they had evolved into his Penance powers. Currently, this power (his power as Speedball) has shown to be returning to him, and he can use it again. When transformed into Speedball, he was covered with a blue-and-gold costume (originally a facsimile of the lab uniform he wore when exposed to the energy) and surrounded by a display of multi-colored bubbles. At first, Robbie would transform uncontrollably if hit with a slight force and bounce around uncontrollably, making him originally seen as a "joke" character. However, in his years as a member of the New Warriors, he developed considerably. He gained the ability to manipulate his kinetic field to extend out to either attack an enemy or block a projectile. He typically used the field to slam into his opponents, and the multi-colored light display could be used to distract opponents. After many years, Robbie learned to extend the kinetic field outward, pushing back everything in his immediate area or, by focusing more locally, delivering more powerful blows in hand-to-hand combat. His "bubbles" could also be contained in a telekinetic field (see: Justice) and then launched as an intense attack. Later, Robbie would also discover that his entire body was in fact an aspect of the "kinetic dimension," and that each bubble represented a moment in time. | Abilities = | Strength = | Weaknesses = | Equipment = Penance wears a suit of armor constructed of super-hardened plastics, reinforced with certain alloys, with a sharp interior lining of spikes causing him constant pain. The metals act as non-resistant energy conduits; the larger spikes contain the main energy conduits. The suit contains spikes representing the 612 people who died in the Stamford explosion; the 60 larger spikes represent the 60 children who burned to death in the schoolyard. The spikes are hardened with carbonate steel. | Transportation = | Weapons = | Notes = * Robbie's height increased when he became Speedball, and his hair turned "jello-y" and his voice "hollow." * Robbie appears to have become a cutter and still has not overcome his guilt, following his abandonment of his Penance persona, though he is genuinely trying. | Trivia = *Speedball's kinetic field didn't show up very well on some video cameras, leaving footage of him blurry and worthless. *Squirrel Girl has an obsessive crush on him. *Dr. Benson, who led the extra-dimensional experiment has a cat, Niels. Niels was similarly augmented by the kinetic energy, bouncing much like Speedball does. *While most of the other T-Bolts have countermeasures against them in case they step out of line (ie: Tranquilizers in Bullseye's cuffs), Penance is said to have no countermeasures against him, as were the orders from S.H.I.E.L.D. Directorate. *Speedball also appeared in Marvel's "mature line" of comics, in MAX's Alias. *Robbie Baldwin is a Presbyterian. *When Speedball was shot on the steps of Congress, it looked identical to the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby in the real world. Recommended Readings | Links = * New Warriors Continuity Conundrum * New Warriors Message Board }} Category:Baldwin Family Category:Concussive Blasts Category:Telepathic Immunity Category:Presbyterian Characters Category:Protestant Characters Category:50-State Initiative members Category:Mutates Category:Avengers members Category:Christian Characters Category:Media-Driven Characters Category:Humans Category:Leaping